


Sweet Surrender

by dsa_archivist



Category: due South
Genre: F/M, Gen, Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-04-13
Updated: 1999-04-13
Packaged: 2018-11-10 05:36:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11120976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dsa_archivist/pseuds/dsa_archivist
Summary: Kowalski and Frannie discover each other.





	Sweet Surrender

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Speranza, the archivist: this story was once archived at [Due South Archive](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Due_South_Archive). To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Due South Archive collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/duesoutharchive).

Sweet Surrender  


## Sweet Surrender

  
by Adia

Stanley Raymond Kowalski sat with his feet perched upon the  
desk top. Francesca Vecchio was making her way through the  
station, high heels, skinny shoulders, bare midriff and all.  
She rounded the corner to find the spiky blond hared detective  
sitting  
in her swivel chair watching the screen saver decorate  
her computer  
screen. He suddenly took notice of her and jumped  
up out of her chair,  
"Hey, Frannie, glad yer here." He was  
speaking so fast  
again she could hardly understand him. She  
gritted her teeth. His non-stop sugar-highish super-energy was  
wearing  
really thin. It was too early in the morning for this.  
She lost every  
thread of patients and snapped at him, "What  
do you want Ray?"  
She looked over at him just in time to see  
his eyebrows dance. Winking  
them up and down wearing a suggestive  
half smile. Francesca rolled  
her eyes and shook her head.  
He spoke in a slow soft tone that made her skin hot, "You know  
what I want." He looked her straight in the eye and his smile  
grew more wicked.  
Frannie flung the back of her hand at him and managed to lightly  
slap his leather sleeved shoulder, "Stop it!" her pale cheeks  
flushed  
a bright pink, "You're gonna blow Ray's cover! If you  
keep acting  
like that, no one's ever gonna believe we're brother  
and sister." She  
sounded annoyed.  
He was mid word in saying, "So?" when a red-clad Mountie turned  
the  
corner, "Ah Ray, I was looking for you." The Mountie  
stopped  
and took his index finger and pointed it to the side of his  
forehead, "I was wondering if you recall a certain, Mr.  
Cahill?" Stanley was staring at Francesca. Fraser impatiently  
sought Stan's attention, "Ray... Ray!... RAY!" Stanley shook  
his head quickly as if to shake the thoughts occupying his brain  
right off.  
He soon picked up on the conversation and was once  
again mid sentence, "Yeah, Fraser what about h-."  
Francesca slipped in between them and pressed herself close to the  
Mountie,  
"Hi Frase." She tossed her head back ever so slightly making  
her brown hair bounce, "How'd you sleep last night?" She coyly  
placed her index finger upon his chest and drew an invisible  
heart on his red serge.  
Fraser who looked hardly even phased by this attractive woman throwing  
herself at him spoke calmly, "Just fine, Francesca, I find sleeping  
on  
the  
floor very refreshing." She looked puzzled. Stan stepped to the  
side and  
nodded to Fraser to follow him to another part of the station.  
Fraser picked up on the cue.  
Francesca looked at him confused, "Refreshing?"  
He turned around and covered his heart with his  
Stetson, "Oh, yes, you should try it sometime." He nodded several  
quick nods then turned on his heels and continued on his way.  
Francesca  
exhaled and flopped down in her chair. She picked  
up an emery board and brushed away at her nails. How could this  
be  
happening? If Kowalski didn't shape up and start hiding things  
better  
she didn't know what she was going to do. Things had  
been so much easier before. When she flirted with Fraser because  
she wanted to, not just to make everything look normal like it  
had  
been only weeks ago. Her silent contemplation as abruptly  
interrupted  
by her name being roared out, "Francesca!" Uh-oh.  
She quickly  
shoved the emery board into the sliding desk drawer  
where she kept  
various other cosmetics and useless things like  
pencils and paper  
clips. She wasn't watching too carefully and  
in a rush to appease  
the angry sounding voice she accidentally  
slammed her finger in the  
desk drawer with a crunch. A sharp  
high pitched yelp left her lips and her wounded finger immediately  
flew to her mouth trying to ease the pain of her bruised finger.  
"Yes sir?" she composed herself and asked weakly.  
Lieutenant Welsh passed by her in a rush, "I want the file on that  
clown  
Cahill.  
Pronto!" He had only paused as her passed her desk heading down  
the hall and into one of the interrogation rooms. Frannie's  
shoulders slumped and she set off tiredly to fetch the file.  
She passed by Huey and Dewey who were practicing their  
one-liners. Sometimes working here just wasn't worth it.  
She brought the file over to the interrogation room finding the  
bounce  
in her step once again. Remembering to knock on the door  
as the Lieutenant  
had always been pounding into her brain. She  
quickly used her knuckles  
to tap on the door twice before  
entering. In the room stood Kowalski, Fraser and Welsh all  
surrounding the suspect. Kowalski looked especially antsy and  
Fraser  
was looking as collected as ever. Behind her Huey and  
Dewey followed in, "Yes Sir?" Dewey asked the Lieutenant.  
Untill Welsh turned to them Frannie hadn't noticed the man in a suit  
standing in the corner. "This is agent Spender from the FBI."  
The man moved forward into the room and looked Fraser up and  
down very questionably, "What's a Mountie doing here?" Fraser  
stood  
up even straighter and Kowalski rolled his eyes knowing exactly  
what was coming.  
Fraser had started in that well known tone  
as he motioned his hand in a rolling way as if to say, "Well,  
sir," which he did say to start the sentence, "I first came  
to Chicago on the trail of the killers of my father and..."  
As his words drifted on Francesca slapped the file down on the  
table  
and headed out of the room. How many times could she hear  
that? She  
used to think she could have listened to that forever.  
But that was  
before.  
She was only seconds outside of the door when Kowalski slyly  
slipped out of the interrogation room. In one fell swoop Stanley  
managed to snatch Frannie by the arm and yank open the door  
to the observation room. He pulled her into the dark vacant  
space and closed the door firmly behind him. As she was being  
pulled  
in she almost screamed shocked, "What the he-" Before  
she  
could finish the words her mouth was silenced by his full  
lips covering  
hers.  
Frannie was a little surprised, but thoroughly enjoying it.  
Stan showered kisses on her lips, quick soft kisses. Kisses  
that she knew well, kisses that worked their way through her.  
One's  
that she knew would deepen given the moments opportunity.  
But this  
was at work. He hadn't done this since, well, since  
two months ago when they had run into eachother after hours  
in the station. Alone. Just the two of them...  
*******************************  
Francesca had been kind enough to invite him back to her mother's  
house for dinner. Her mother truly adored him and felt like  
the skinny boy could always use a good meal. Frannie hadn't been  
terribly fond of Stanley in the first place, she was so blind  
that  
she had programmed herself so that her eyes only saw Fraser.  
However,  
things had changed in her life and for one small tiny  
fraction of  
a second, she opened her eyes. Stan just happened  
to be standing  
right in front of her that night. It was late  
and he offered her a ride home since he was going there for  
dinner anyway. A friend had dropped her off at work in the  
morning. She was in need of transportation home so she figured,  
"Why  
not?" which lead to the both of them in the station after  
hours  
with the lights out. Even Welsh had gone home. Scattered  
lights were  
on in other parts of the station due to other city  
cops, but for  
the most part they were alone as Frannie searched  
through her desk  
for her house keys.  
Before Stanley even knew it he was watching the way her skirt  
shifted  
when she leaned across her desk, the way her hair  
glittered with goldish highlights, the way she spoke softly  
when they were alone. Suddenly it occurred to him that he really  
wasn't as irritated by Frannie as he once thought. No, it wasn't  
that he didn't like her, it was that he did like her. And  
it was confusing the hell out of him.  
It had only been two weeks since Stella had been dating a local  
Alderman  
and through a wild twist of events Stan and Stella  
had ended up at her place with his heart poured into her soul.  
Once  
again. He had said those words that seemed so easy to say  
with her.  
As easy as breathing, "Stella, I love you." At one  
time  
those words had been all that sustained him. His love for  
her. Despite  
her lack of love for him. But he couldn't see  
it, and never did. He knew it wasn't the brightest thing to  
try to get back with his ex-wife, but he felt like he had nothing  
left. In fact, this had been the first time in his entire life  
where  
he had felt completely alone. He had never felt lonely,  
but now he  
felt nothing else. Just loneliness and emptiness.  
The problem wasn't his lack of Stella, it was the lack of  
himself. He truly, even at 37, didn't know who he was yet and  
he  
felt lost. Like a child wandering too far from safety.  
Honestly, lost.  
Stella was all he'd ever known, she was everything to him but  
the  
night after the incident with the Alderman and the man who  
tried  
to kill Stella, Stanley finally realized, it was over.  
Stella would never again feel the way she once had, and by far,  
she  
would never again love him. Which blew his fragile heart  
into a million shattered splinters of glass. So of course he jumped  
at the chance for a little real conversation and human contact with  
people who enjoyed his company. The only thing that bothered him  
was that he was still confused as to weather the Vecchio family  
lavished attention on him because they liked him, or because he  
was just a replacement for their long lost Ray. And what scared  
him the most was the idea of the latter. That it was only part of  
the cover. He was getting sick of pretending to be someone else  
and it was starting to confuse him. He wasn't sure he even had a  
friend in the world. Yeah, Fraser was great, but maybe he was just  
like everyone else, pretending to befriend him. Pretending.  
Despite all his doubts he had tried to keep it all inside. All  
his  
fear. All his worries. He had learned how to live behind  
a mask, and never let his guard drop. He had accidentally made  
himself  
vulnerable once before, and she had nearly killed him.  
But, hiding  
was safe. If he just acted like he didn't care,  
like nothing mattered. If he turned away quick enough to avoid  
anyone  
seeing the sadness in his eyes. If he just kept pretending  
to be  
his hyper-active, instinctive self then no one would know.  
It wasn't  
just an accident that Frannie had opened her eyes when  
Stanley happened  
to be standing in front of her. It wasn't a  
mistake. It wasn't just chance. There was a reason they were  
alone in that station that night. A purpose. Two lonely people  
with  
their hearts out on silver plates for other people who  
only spit on them. Frannie wasn't new to the concept that Fraser  
was having nothing to do with her. Frankly, she was getting  
quite sick of it. It was hurting too much to spend the eternity  
of  
her life chasing after a man who didn't even acknowledge  
her presence. And the worst part was, she knew it. And she knew  
it  
was never gonna happen. Fraser was never going to feel  
anything for her. She had realized this a few weeks after she  
started  
working at the station. It was obvious how oblivious  
of her he was. It was then that she knew and it was then that  
she  
admitted it to herself.  
She had to accept the fact. It was a lot harder than she had  
expected. Every last glimmer of hope had been sucked from her  
over  
the course of the last week. Fraser was not worth her  
energy, but she couldn't bring herself to stop her behavior,  
she didn't really know how else to act around him anymore. All  
she  
knew was, she was deeply disappointed. She started to notice  
that  
Stan wasn't quite as obnoxious as usual and he hadn't been  
correcting  
her every statement, no matter how weirdly she'd  
screwed it up. Suddenly things were starting to become very  
bizarre and she was starting to feel really strange.  
Once she had located her keys and slipped them into her purse  
she  
turned to Stan to find him perched on the edge of his desk,  
arms  
folded, eyes focused, eyebrows climbing further up his  
forehead.  
"What's wrong?" This time the words left her lips significantly  
gentler than ever. Ordinarily she would have snapped out her  
reaction to him, but for some strange reason she didn't feel  
the need to fight tonight.  
He slid off the desk, "Nuthin', why?"  
"No reason." She flashed a quick smile that disappeared as  
she  
turned from him. Tossing her head back she quickly changed the  
subject, "We gonna airplane?"  
Stan almost let the comment slide due to how distracted he was by the  
way her hair shimmered and bounced above her shoulders. And  
how much he wanted to lean forward and just lightly touch it.  
Touch  
her. Still, he couldn't waste the opportunity. Not to  
mention the fact that his over active brain was causing a thick  
fog  
of discomforted to roll in, "You mean 'jet', Frannie. We're  
going to jet. Not airplane."  
Francesca sighed in exasperation, "Airplane, jet, helicopter,  
who cares!?" She waved her hands in the air dismissively. There  
she was. Back again. Good old Frannie. Maybe it had just been  
a passing  
mood. Nothing more. Just an amusing thought. That  
had to be it.  
Stan had spent the entire drive to the Vecchio household trying  
to  
convince himself of that. Desperately trying to convince  
himself that it was just a figment of his imagination. And it  
had  
almost worked. Almost.  
After dinner was finished. Francesca was in the kitchen  
standing at the sink with her mother. Stan was a good man, he  
hadn't  
been raised to be rude. He had good manners and enjoyed  
using them.  
Especially in the company of women when his manners  
became quite  
skilled and almost, dare to compare, Mountie-like.  
He had been picking  
up the dishes from the table and carefully  
carrying them over to  
the kitchen counter offering to wash them,  
though Ma Vecchio would  
have none of that, "Ray, you are such  
a nice young man. Such  
good manners and such sweet face." Her  
accent was thick and  
she placed her hands on his cheeks and  
kissed his forehead, "Ray, you make wonderful company. Francesca  
should be so lucky to work with a boy like you." She turned  
to her daughter whom she loved more than life, "But, you  
Francesca,  
walking around with your head in the clouds." She  
mildly scolded  
her, "Open you eyes, child. Your a good girl,  
Francesca and  
I love you, but I'm not the only one. Open your  
heart my dear."  
She then kissed Frannie's wrinkled forehead in  
the identical manner  
she had just kissed Stan's. After giving  
Stanley a smile she quietly  
left the room.  
They both stood. In silence. For a long, long moment. Finally  
the  
block of ice that surrounded them suspending them in mid  
air was broken by Stan, "Are you sure I can't wash these for  
ya?"  
"Nah, you're our guest." She shrugged, "Sorry, about that.  
Ma's  
a little strange sometimes."  
Stan shook his head and quickly threw in, "No, actually I'd  
say she's very perceptive."  
He immediately regretted that. He knew all too well that he had  
just given too much away. He knew that when he did stupid things  
like that only bad and painful situations resulted.  
Frannie stood there for a moment, "Perceptive?" Her words were  
barely muttered under her breath as she moved closer to him.  
Filling in the empty space between them. He could feel his  
world growing smaller and smaller, like a force field of static  
electricity  
that was drawing them nearer to one another. Right  
on cue as she  
was leaning closer to Stanley she felt a little  
tug at the bottom  
of her mini-skirt. She silently cursed her  
families habit of bad timing under her breath. She looked down to find  
an adorable little girl who was teetering around, barely able  
to  
walk with curly dark hair and a nose almost identical to  
her own.  
Her niece. She sighed inwardly then turned to the child, "Yes?"  
Stan took a long step back and cleared his throat nervously.  
Finding a clean fork on the table, he picked it up and busied  
his  
hands with it. Anything to avoid anyone actually knowing  
how nervous he truly was. The little girl whined, "Aunt Fran,  
I can't sleep." She could barely form intelligible words.  
Francesca  
bent down and scooped her up turning to search for  
Stan who had disappeared further into the dining room. When  
she spotted him she smiled, "Um... I'm gonna go get her mom  
to put her back to bed."  
He was just standing there. His eyes soft with an almost  
tangible warmth. Why hadn't she ever seen this before? He hadn't  
moved a muscle and after she'd finished her sentence she hadn't  
taken  
a breath either. She was terrified to. Afraid if she  
somehow moved, breathed, let her heart take a beat that it would  
ruin this. This moment she had stumbled into. When for the first  
time ever she was seeing him. Who he was. On the inside. All  
the fear, love, disappointment, hope, and redemption that he  
held within himself. In the furthest deepest ocean of his heart.  
Trapped inside for so long.  
"I could take her?" He offered quietly. His voice was soothing  
and warm to her now and all she wanted to do was close her eyes  
and  
listen to the sound of his voice forever. He stretched his  
arms out  
and Frannie passed the child onto him, wishing in a  
tiny corner of her mind that she could be the one being held.  
Wrapped,  
close to his heart, in his arms. Quickly she left the  
room looking  
for her sister while trying her best to keep those  
thoughts out of  
her mind. What had gotten into her lately? Could  
it be Ma was right?  
Nah!  
On her way back to the dinning room she could hear a whisper  
of a voice. A smooth tone, not talking. Humming. The closer  
she came to the room the more she recognized who was humming  
the soft tune. She found Stanley cradling the sleeping baby  
in his arms. Swaying side to side, his feet moving in a slow  
subtle pattern. Dancing. He was gently patting her back in a slow  
rhythm while dancing invisible circles around the room which  
had  
soothed her enough for her to fall asleep. Frannie wished that  
for  
once in her life she could have just a little of that security back.  
That  
snugly feeling that surrounded her when she was that young.  
Something she'd lost long ago and never recovered.  
When he turned and sensed her presence he stopped dead in his  
tracks,  
meeting her eyes directly. A slow blush spread up his  
cheeks, "Sorry."  
She couldn't stop herself from grinning at the peaceful image  
in  
front of her. "Don't be." She cautiously stepped closer and  
placed her hand out and onto her nieces back then took her other  
arm and carefully wrapped it around the back of Stan. Pausing  
a moment  
reminding himself not to let his own guard slip again he  
actually  
leaned in slightly towards Frannie. Right then he felt  
as though  
time stopped. He shifted so that he could move his  
hand around to bring Frannie closer to him. She felt him pull  
her  
into the circle and wrap her in his warmth. A little pocket  
of pure  
indescribable soul-filling bliss he had just created.  
As though the  
world beyond them simply did no longer exist.  
As they swayed together he managed to bring his head down and  
lay  
upon Francesca shoulder. He sweetly let his lips brush past  
the soft  
skin on her neck just under her jawline. She closed  
her eyes. Terrified that if she opened them she would wake  
up from this dream. Wake up alone. As always. She wasn't sure  
she  
could handle that, so she sealed her eyes shut even tighter.  
She  
could feel a heat start to smoke from her pulse points.  
Her heart certainly was racing for being as relaxed as she was  
at  
this moment. She had never felt such a sensation as that.  
That of being totally secure and calm yet completely intensely  
alive.  
Her heart was racing so rapidly she worried it might  
just burst from her chest. Oh what a mess that would make, not  
to  
mention what a way to kill a mood.  
Speaking of ways to kill a mood, there was Maria, right  
on time. Mood killer number one, "Gee, I didn't know the party  
was in here." Once again Stan stopped dead in his tracks.  
Frannie's  
sister slipped the baby from his arms and carried  
her off to bed, "Thanks for watching her, Ray."  
He shrugged and shook his head, "Aw, no prob."  
Frannie had released her hold on him. As her niece and her sister exited  
the room and made their way upstairs she turned back to Stan.  
"Thanks  
for coming for dinner, Ray."  
"Thank you. I mean, this is the most fun I've had in a long  
time."  
Frannie frowned slightly, "Really?"  
He looked down and stared at the carpeted floor then slipped  
his hands in his pockets, "I don't really do much since Stella  
and I split, ya know?" He shrugged.  
With great concern seeping into her voice, "Sounds lonely."  
she whispered.  
"You have no idea." he nearly choked the words out the same  
way he had that night in the car with Fraser after they dropped  
the  
Alderman and, non-intentionally, Stella off. He'd had to  
explain it to Fraser, and that was hard enough in itself that  
he  
nearly caved in. This was impossible. How could he stand  
here beside a woman he so deeply cared about, and cared about  
impressing  
and then do this? Let it all crumble in front of her. What  
would  
she do? Run screaming in the opposite direction he feared.  
Instead  
her reaction surprised him, she was still here. Planted  
solidly in  
front of him. No wavering. No intention of leaving.  
"No, actually,  
you know, I do know how it feels to be empty."  
though she had  
kept her tone low, he had heard her loud and  
clear. Not so much what she said, but what she hadn't spoken.  
All  
the meaning she had let her eyes bring to him.  
"It sucks doesn't it Frannie?" Was all his nervous mind could  
think to say.  
"Yeah, it does." She nodded in agreement, "Um, why don't  
I walk  
you to your car?" He had been shifting his weight from  
one leg  
to the other as he conversed with Frannie. She could sense  
there  
might be something more he wanted to say, but this wasn't the  
place to discuss it.  
She slipped her hand into his and walked him out the door and  
down  
the drive way. They were standing beside his GTO under  
the orange glowing light of a street lamp.  
"Your family is really nice Frannie, real nice." He had taken  
her other hand in his and leaned against the hood of his car  
bringing her to stand closer in front of him.  
"Are you kidding me? You don't have to live with them everyday."  
They both chuckled a little at her remark.  
"I would love to have one of those." What he had just said  
didn't  
make a whole lot of sense to Frannie so she gave him a look  
expressing her misunderstanding. He finished his last statement,  
"I just mean that I want a family like that. You guys seem to  
get along so well, even though ya might fight or argue, deep  
down ya guys still love eachother and you can see that. I never  
did  
have a great relationship with my dad or any of my family  
for that  
matter. It just looks like a wonderful place to be.  
Everyone is so warm and affectionate. Meanwhile I feel like  
I was raised in a museum compared to you." He was rambling again  
like he always did when he touched upon a subject that was  
layered with meaning so deep he could never tackle it all.  
Frannie felt herself freeze for a moment. She just realized  
something about Stanley that seemed so obvious that she almost  
hated  
herself for not realizing it in the first place. This  
man was starved. Not food starved, like Ma had always insisted  
he  
was, but love starved. Affection starved. Warmth starved.  
And it was killing him. Slowly and steadily. Like he had said  
his  
home was never a place where warmth ran freely, then when  
he thought  
he had found what he needed in Stella, she completely  
rejected him.  
Tossing him aside for her career, not realizing  
she could have had  
both. But she didn't want both, which made  
her cold and caused Stanley  
to give up completely. Had he even  
been on a date since the divorce?  
He had worshipped her, believing  
with all of him that she was going  
to be the one. The one he  
would love for the rest of his life. And up untill this moment,  
he  
had still believed it too.  
Frannie felt an overwhelming need to say this, even though it  
didn't  
really fit into their current topic of conversation,  
"Ray, I am so proud of you."  
He quickly shifted his eyes to meet hers, wanting to know if  
she was telling the truth, "Me?"  
"Yes you." She had released her hands from his and moved them  
freely to his face.  
"Why me?"  
She placed one hand delicately on this face. Tracing her  
fingertips along his skin. From his temple to the crease on  
his cheek that deepened when he smiled. She adored it when he  
smiled,  
the way the his face changed form and the entire  
universe lit up. She wished he did it more often. Wishing  
he had cause to. She hoped after this he would. "I'm proud of  
you for being you." For enduring, for not giving up. If you  
had given up where would I be? Though she didn't say what she  
wanted  
to, what she said next made up for it, "For being the  
one I  
could love for the rest of my life."  
Stan's eyes grew daringly wide. A million questions were racing  
through  
his mind, most of which had to do with, "What about  
Fraser,  
I thought he was the one you'd gladly die for." But  
he couldn't  
bring himself to say any of that. For he had already  
surrendered.  
Her hand was soft and a certain heat radiated from it making  
him feel something more than just her warmth that she shared  
with him. He closed his eyes and let his head fall into her  
hands. Drifting far away from what was the present. Trying his  
damnedest  
to hold onto this moment. To grasp it and possess it  
with all his  
might. In his soul he was feeling something  
completely different than he ever had before. Something so foreign  
to him that he didn't recognize it. One of those amazing feelings  
he couldn't find words for. He couldn't put into words how she  
was  
making him feel and probably never could. the closest he  
came to describing this feeling was, "I belong. For the first  
time in my life, I finally feel like this is where I'm ment  
to be. With her. Near her... I belong." Ordinarily he would  
have chuckled at himself for having such a foolish thought,  
and of Frannie no less. Of all the people in the world Frannie.  
Why  
Frannie? He didn't care why really, he was too busy being  
content.  
Marveling in the idea, Frannie. The truth, a  
realization. All this time. He had finally found his angel.  
And it was Frannie.  
That had been what had done it for him. She had pulled him off  
the  
ledge when he was about to fall, jump, be engulfed in a  
never-ending night of darkness and an endless bone chilling,  
freezing coldness. It had scared him beyond emotion. And it  
delighted him beyond words to realize there was actually someone  
who cared about him. Someone who loved him, and more importantly,  
someone who liked him. He was afraid that might be impossible.  
He  
had been reminded by Stella and eventually himself of all  
his bad qualities and traits that he feared deep into his soul,  
filling  
his mind everyday with an indescribable panic and fear  
that no one,  
no one would ever love him. The way he had loved  
before. The way  
he needed to feel complete. The way Frannie  
had made him feel.  
*******************************  
His kisses were intoxicating, but Frannie knew she had to break  
free  
and get back to work. Though she wanted to spend the entire  
remainder  
of the day right here trapped with him. Wrapped in  
his arm. The feel of his hands on the bare skin of the back  
of her waist made her so glad she had decided to wear the bare-  
midriffed  
shirt she had. She was also grateful for the fact  
that Kowalski wasn't one of those starched and pressed snappy  
dressers.  
She loved the way his shirts remained casually half  
tucked in, it  
made it a whole lot less suspicious when they  
would both emerge from a room together.  
"Frannie?" He managed to ask between gulps of air before coming  
back for more.  
Instead of removing her lips from his, which would have been like  
trying to breath without air right now, she made a soft sound  
resembling,  
"Hmmm?" Then continued enjoying the taste of his kisses.  
Cinnamon.  
"Hey, Frannie," he slowly peeled his lips off hers for a brief  
moment but left himself pressed against her, craving and devouring  
her warmth. As if it were a form of much needed nourishment.  
Which in reality it was. Having her so close to him only made  
him  
want to be closer. Closer untill there would be nothing  
left as interference between them. Closer untill he could feel  
her  
heart through his own chest. He knew he was getting off  
track, "I was thinking."  
"And?" She asked in a suggestive tone then slipped her fingers  
through the belt loops of his jeans pulling him against her

with a sharp tug.  
He grinned, "And, I was just thinkin' that, ya know, if we get  
married now you won't even have to change your last name."  
Frannie  
abruptly grimaced at the idea. He laughed quietly, "What?  
You  
don't like the idea?"  
"No!" Francesca defend her behavior, "It's just that I  
got  
this horrible picture of the Priest saying, "Do you Ray  
Vecchio  
take Francesca Vecchio to be you lawfully wedded wife?"  
She shook  
her head.  
"Yeah," Stan had to agree, "I guess that, uh, would be  
a little  
weird." Over the time that they had been together Frannie  
started  
noticing more and more that Stanley had stopped stuttering  
so  
much. Especially when they were alone together. She seemed to  
have an automatic and significant calming effect on him.  
Enough talk. Though rational thoughts were bouncing themselves off  
the inside of Kowalski's brain he paid them no attention. Even  
the  
feeling he was getting that he and Frannie should take this  
somewhere  
a little more private. He shrugged it off to instinct.  
Even though  
when he and Frannie did get together he told himself  
to never again  
shrug off his instincts. His first instinct with  
Frannie was one  
of great attraction. He could still remember  
how he felt the day she first arrived to work at the station.  
He  
knew he was in trouble. Of course he had tried briefly  
explaining that to Fraser, but like a lot of other things  
concerning woman, he sometimes really just, didn't get it.  
Still, Stanley had been trying to train himself to ignore his  
instincts  
and just flow with things. Besides things were going  
so smoothly  
why would he want to interrupt?  
Before either of them knew why, Francesca was tumbling over on top  
of Stanley and they both ended up landing on the floor with a  
loud  
crashing thud. Kowalski was lying spread eagle on his back  
on the  
floor of the observation room. And wouldn't you know  
it, guess who was lying flat on top of him... Frannie. Who else?  
Standing above him Stan recognized the face that owned those  
blushing cheeks and apologetic look, "Oh! Ray. Francesca."  
He  
nodded at both of them, "I'm sorry to intrude."  
"No prob. Frase." Frannie got up quickly, dusted herself off  
and flashed Stan a suggestive grin before scurrying out of the  
room  
quicker than lightning.  
Kowalski sighed heavily and propped himself up in his elbows,  
not  
quite ready to leave his position apparently, "What it is Fraser?"  
He asked the grinning Mountie whose cheeks matched the same  
shade as his red serge coat.  
"Well, Ray, it's just that Leftenate Welsh was mentioning that  
he needed Observation Room number 1 today for a witness to  
identify a suspect. I was aware that you and Francesca were  
here so I thought it might be in your best interest that I  
provide a warning to you both."  
Stanley took care of the most important matter first and lifted  
himself  
up off the floor and regained his composure. Moving  
onto the second order of business, "How'd ya know 'bout me and  
Frannie?"  
"I could sense things had changed between the two of you. Even  
though Frannie does an excellent job of trying to cover it up  
by  
continuing to argue with you, that spark of distaste just  
isn't there anymore. Also, Ray, I have noticed that while she  
pretends  
to be interested in me there is a certain... hunger,  
if you will,  
missing. I knew something must have filled that  
void. Also the look on your face was a dead give away that you  
were  
unhappy when she behaves that way. Plus, Ray, you must  
remember I do have sharp senses that I have spent developing  
in order to see the truth in any given situation..." Fraser  
spiraled out of control. As he often did while telling Inuit  
stories. His words picking up speed and were not giving a moments  
hesitation towards stopping. Ray shook his head as Fraser  
muttered on about... something. He wasn't really listening.  
That is untill he heard one sentence come from Fraser that  
reached out and grabbed his attention, "You know Ray, you're  
not the only person to ever fall in love with a Vecchio."  
His  
immediate response was a double take, "Huh?"  
Fraser said nothing only raised his eyebrows and popped his  
eyes open wide. Giving Stan a look he had never seen before.  
At first he was unsure of how to interpret it but before a moment  
could pass the realization dawned on him, "Oh man. Fraser, I'm  
so sorry, buddy."  
Fraser looked stunned, "Why Ray? It's nothing you need be sorry  
for."  
Stan barreled on, the last comment not yet reaching his ears,  
"Look,  
Fraser. I didn't know. You gotta believe me. If I had  
known I wouldn't  
have gone near her."  
"Her?" Fraser's brow wrinkled, he looked even more confused.  
Stanley finished his thoughts, "If you want me to I'll lay off,  
if it really bothers you, it might kill me but if I've caused  
any  
hard feelings then I'll call it off, if she means that much  
to you."  
Now Stan was the one spinning out of control. No pausing  
to let Fraser  
get one word in edgewise.  
When he finally did stop he noticed the Mountie's perplexed look.  
Fraser asked quietly, "Do you think I like Francesca?"  
Kowalski stopped for a moment, "You don't?" There was a clear  
expression of surprise, coupled with great relief.  
Fraser shook his head. Whew! Stan wiped his brow internally.  
"Good, Fraser, good." Slowly Stanley was becoming the one  
confused, "Then who?"  
Fraser sighed, putting his hand up to his face and started rubbing  
the bridge of his nose between this thumb and index finger.  
"Aaaaw, Fraser that's sick!" Stanley was stunned and a bit  
horrified.  
"Gee, Ray, I really wasn't expecting such a poor reaction from  
you. I've always considered you a rather opened minded person."  
Fraser opened the door and started to walk out.  
Stanley grabbed the door and held it open as he made his way  
out, "How'd ya think I was gonna react? I mean, come on Fraser,  
Ma Vecchio? That's just gross!"  
"Not that Vecchio." Fraser whispered while rolling his eyes.  
He kept walking down the hall shaking his head sadly at Stanley's  
lack of grasping the obvious.  
Huey was leaning over the water fountain in the hallway. He  
abruptly stood up and turned to Kowalski, "Are you ever gonna  
get it?"  
"Get what?" Stan shot Huey his puzzled look.  
Huey in return rolled his eyes and walked off in the opposite  
direction  
down the hall.  
Fraser had taken off way ahead of Kowalski and was nearing the  
end  
of the hall, "Wait up Fraser!" He hurried to catch up, but  
Fraser ignored him and kept walking with Dief by his side. Just as  
Fraser turned the corner it suddenly struck Kowalski, like a  
2 by 4 to the head. Hello!?  
Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks. He looked up from staring  
at the floor. He slowly whispered, "Oh." Nodding slowly in  
recognition, all of the pieces of the puzzle slowly starting  
to make sense to him. He finally got it.  
Picking up speed he turned the corner. A combination of shock  
and  
surprise flooded him, "What the-" He was quickly cut off by  
something being suddenly pressed against him before he came  
tumbling down onto the floor. Flat on his back once again staring  
up into a pair of beautiful eyes. File folders were flying everywhere  
and papers were floating to the ground all around them. But the  
outside  
world slowly disappeared as he found the familiarness of  
those  
eyes. A warmth spreading through him... Francesca. He knew  
with  
all the certainty of the world. She truly was the one. The one  
he  
wanted to surrender to. His Frannie.

The End  
(~MDK~)  
October 1998  
Standard Disclaimer Applies


End file.
